


St. Dymphna's Home for Unusual Girls

by americanhoney913



Category: Ocean's (Movies), Ocean's 8 (2018)
Genre: Debbie likes water a little too much, F/F, Lou plays with dead things, Superpowers AU, asylum AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-21 00:34:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15545694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/americanhoney913/pseuds/americanhoney913
Summary: Danny's hand felt heavy on her shoulder, like a boulder sinking to the bottom of a lake. It's like he's trying to ground her in reality in herself or she'll melt into the floor.“Why are you doing this?” Debbie asks. “I'm not… I don't need to be here.”Debbie looks up at her older brother. He's got crow's feet around his eyes and looks older than he actually is. His brown eyes look sorrowful and he gives her a tight smile. “I didn't want to do this, sis,” he says, voice rough. “Father was going to...” He looks like he’s choking before he coughs and frowns. “Father was going to get rid of you if I didn’t bring you here. He wanted to ‘get rid of the problem.’”Debbie’s spine stiffens like an icicle, hard yet easy to snap. She knows what her older brother means.ORDebbie's not like anyone else in her family of cons and that scares them. So Daddy Ocean ships her off to an isolated home just down the road from the prison. Now she's stuck here with girls just like her. But she wants to get out. Can she and her new team find a way to escape the island and the woman keeping them there?





	St. Dymphna's Home for Unusual Girls

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired when driving by a run-down asylum/mental institution on my way home. And the idea of our girls with cool powers!

 

Danny's hand felt heavy on her shoulder, like a boulder sinking to the bottom of a lake. It's like he's trying to ground her in reality in herself or she'll melt into the floor. 

“Why are you doing this?” Debbie asks. “I'm not… I don't need to be here.”

Debbie looks up at her older brother. He's got crow's feet around his eyes and looks older than he actually is. His brown eyes look sorrowful and he gives her a tight smile. “I didn't want to do this, sis,” he says, voice rough. “Father was going to...” He looks like he’s choking before he coughs and frowns. “Father was going to get rid of you if I didn’t bring you here. He wanted to ‘get rid of the problem.’”

Debbie’s spine stiffens like an icicle, hard yet easy to snap. She knows what her older brother means.

“Hello,” a voice interrupts whatever Danny was going to say next. A woman with long white hair and a kind smile stands with her arms folded in front of her. She looks like Debbie would imagine a grandmother to look, but there’s something, a glint in her eye that’s less than kind. Like a drop of oil in a thriving ecosystem. It might not look like much, but one drop is always followed by more.

The process of Danny leaving,  _ abandoning _ her, is short and sweet and she gets a minute to say goodbye. Debbie wants to hold onto him, wants to melt into his side and never let go. But she can’t because he’s leaving and Daddy wants to kill her and the woman, Rika, is looking at her with a sympathy so false even a dummy would know.

The doors shut with a slam and Debbie knows she’s not leaving this place any time soon.

* * *

Rika shoves her into Room 8 with an “enjoy your stay” thrown over her shoulder like it’s a last minute thought. She turns around to find a room that looks very different from her bedroom at home. Two beds line the walls, both with grey sheets that look like they’ll scratch at night. A door to the right leads to a clean bathroom, makeup lining one side of the two-person sink. The shower curtain, which Debbie can only see a part of, looks like it’s covered in rainbows that makes Debbie want to gag. She knows that there’s no one in the house, right now, that’s younger than 15, but she hopes she’s not stuck with the kid. 

“Oh, um, hey!”

Debbie turns around to find a girl coming into the room. She looks to be about Debbie’s age, with blonde hair like spun gold, brushed and pulled into a neat bun on her head. Her dress looked like the sky, lace trimming the clouds.

“I didn’t know I was going to have a roommate,” Debbie says, crossing her arms over her chest. This girl seems to be like a Disney princess, one of those perky ones with the ability to sing to birds and make men fall for her instantly. Debbie hates her.

“Yeah,” the girl walks closer. “People usually stay in this room first. Before they get moved.” She holds out her hand. “I’m Tammy. Nice to meet you.”

“Debbie.” The brunette grabs the other girl’s hand to shake and feels a strange rush of warmth, of calm, rush through her. As if a dam’s been broken and this energy spills into her body from Tammy’s. “Whoa.”

Tammy shrugs. “Sorry. That happens sometimes.” She doesn’t elaborate and, no matter how much Debbie wants to ask, she doesn’t. 

The blonde points to the bed opposite the one she’s sitting in. While Tammy’s side of the room looks nice and bright and cheerful, Debbie’s side is empty, devoid of anything personal. Danny said she couldn’t take anything from home but… She reaches into her jacket and pulls out her brother’s watch and traces the pair of die on the back. She remembers going with Tess to buy it for him; she even picked out the symbol and everything. She sighs and presses the metal to her chest, feeling the chill against her skin.

“Are you okay?” Tammy asks, rising from the bed. She’s even Disney princess graceful. What the fuck is she doing in a place like this, on an island in the middle of the East River.  “Do you want to go meet the others?” She claps her hands together, making Debbie jump. “Oh, I’m sure the girls will be excited to see you!” Tammy looks like she’s going to bounce off the walls. She’s annoying and Debbie just wants her to go away. 

She wants this all to go away.

“I just want to sleep a little,” she tells Tammy.

“But it’s noon.” 

“I just… please leave me alone.”

Debbie watches Tammy bite her bottom lip before nodding. “I’ll bring you something from lunch.” The blonde puts a hand on her shoulder and, for a moment, that warm and calm feeling is back, but it disappears as soon as Tammy pulls her hand away. “I hope you feel better.”

Tammy shuts the light as she leaves and Debbie dissolved into tears.

* * *

Debbie hates it here. 

Tammy is overly nice-- which gets on her nerves a lot-- but she’s also calm and helps Debbie acclimate to this new environment. It’s only been two days, but it’s not getting easier. Every time she asks Ms. Rika about calling her brother, the old woman tells her that there’s no service here on the island. Which doesn’t make sense because the prison is on the other side of the island-- her dad was there and would call all the time to berate mother-- so she doesn’t understand why they’re treated worse than prisoners.

“Have you been able to call your family?” Debbie asks Tammy. The blonde sits on her own bed, a book in one hand and an apple in the other. A bit of juice runs down Tammy's hand from the single bite in the fruit and Debbie wants to flick the golden drop away.

Tammy shakes her head and shuts her book. “No one to call.” She takes another bite of the apple. “I've been here for as long as I can remember.”

“Your family didn't want you?” Debbie asks as she folds her legs against her chest and rests her head on her knee.

“The girls here are my family. I was brought here as a baby. Same with some of the others.” Tammy finished the apple and puts it on her bedside table. “Except for Amita and Daphne, we all grew up here.”

Debbie knows these girls by name only, the others that live here. It's only girls, Tammy tells her, but she doesn't know why. The brunette has kept to herself, confined to her room and nowhere else. Tammy brings her food in the morning and Ms. Rika removes it in the evening. It's not that she doesn't want to eat-- apparently, the cook is amazing and the food looks like it's made by a master chef-- but her stomach can't handle it. She can't do this. Be stuck in this place with nothing. It's always been Debbie and Danny, but now he's left her here on this forgotten island full of strangers and criminals. 

“You know, I didn't want to say this before but, um, you should shower,” Tammy says in a soft, almost forgive-me kind of voice.

“Gee, thanks, TamTam,” Debbie deadpans. She unfolds her legs and grabs the grocery bag Ms. Rika gave her, filled with essentials. Shampoo, conditioner, soap that don't smell like anything.

“I didn't mean it like that,” Tammy says, then bites her lip. “Actually…”

“It's fine.” Debbie grabs a scratchy grey towel and heads into their shared bathroom. She doesn't lock the door.

There's a bathtub-shower combo in one corner of the room, covered by that annoying shower curtain. Debbie scowls at it as she takes her clothes off. She looks down and her eyes go wide when she realizes she's gonna be able to count her ribs eventually if she carries on not eating.

She turns on the water until it's scalding and then slips in with a sigh. The water feels nice, like home.

“Debbie,” Tammy shouts from outside the bathroom, “Ms. Rika demands you come out for a few hours. Says you're gonna turn into a ghost or something.”

Debbie rolls her eyes. “Are the other girls gonna be there?” She's not ready to interact with others. Tammy's fine, a little too perky, and she sees Ms. Rika once a day to demand to speak to her brother.

“Um, probably just Lou and-or Nine Ball,” Tammy responds.

Debbie wraps herself in a towel and flicks her wrist. All the water slides off her and back into the tub. She tucks one side of the towel into the other and picks up the brush on the counter.

“Mind if I use this?” she asks Tammy, noticing the golden strands left behind. Tammy replies with an affirmative and Debbie goes to town on the nest that is her hair.

She emerges from the bathroom in a cloud of steam, dressed in a ripped “Rebel” tank top and soft lounge shorts.

“Hey, good lookin’. You sure do clean up nice.”

“Shut up, TamTam,” Debbie growls.

Tammy beams at the nickname and wraps her arm around Debbie's. She drags the brunette down the hall. There are drawings on one of the doors, roses and designs for different dresses. Another is covered in diamonds. Each door has its own personality. Debbie remembers Tammy's door, with little glow in the dark stars and glitter, just as sparkly and perky as the girl who lives behind it. 

“Well, here we are,” Tammy says as she pushes open the door and holds it for Debbie. 

“Look out!” a heavily accented voice shouts.

Debbie has only a minute to react before she hears a squak and gets a faceful of carnage and clawing feet and feather and…

"What the fuck?"

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. The updates will be slow but I hope they don't disappoint!


End file.
